The Scout Report -- Volume 21, Number 24

The Scout Report -- Volume 21, Number 24

The Scout Report

June 26, 2015 -- Volume 21, Number 24

A Publication of Internet Scout
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison




Research and Education

  NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars
  Rights in America
  Edutopia: Teacher Development
  Crossword Puzzle Maker
  PBS Learning Media: Gratitude and the Environment
  Immigrant Heritage Month
  Physics Central: Physics in Action
  Free Code Camp

General Interest

  Book Riot
  Old NYC
  The Visible Human Project
  Our unhealthy obsession with choice
  Every Culture: Multicultural America
  The National Archives: Beginners' Latin
  This Land Is Your Land: Parks and Public Spaces

Network Tools

  UMapper
  HabitRPG

In the News

  Gmail Introduces New 'Undo Send' Feature



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Research and Education

NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars

·http://www.ncas.aerospacescholars.org/

NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) is a fully funded, STEM-related program that is sure to get educators' attention. The opportunity begins with a five-week online learning experience that uses the past and present of Mars missions to elucidate math, science, and engineering quandaries. Participating students then go on-site for an all-expenses paid workshop at a NASA center. Even for students who don't apply to the highly competitive program, however, there are some wonderful resources on the site. The Features section, for instance, hosts portraits of eight student-scholars who completed the program, telling the stories of how they came to the program, and what they did afterward. In addition, under the About NASA and JSC tab, readers can find links to NASA centers around the country, including the famed Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasedena, California. [CNH]


Rights in America

·http://www.docsteach.org/home/rights

This site from the National Archives is designed to provide educators with primary sources about the struggle for rights in the United States. However, any reader with an interest in American history will find much to ponder here. In the Teaching Activities section, educators may choose from two dozen compelling classroom activities on topics that run the gamut from The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the Integration of the U.S. Armed Forces to the Assimilation of American Indians. The Primary Sources by Topic section provides fascinating original documents, photographs, and other paraphernalia on a range of topics. It's a wonderful way for educators, students, and the generally curious to engage with primary sources related to Citizenship, Free Speech, Americans with Disabilities, Immigrants, and more than a dozen other topics. [CNH]


Edutopia: Teacher Development

·http://www.edutopia.org/teacher-development

As the Edutopia site notes, "High-quality teaching is vital for student success." Created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, this section of the Edutopia site presents readers with a plethora of information on Teacher Development. Educators, as well as anyone interested in the art and science of good teaching, may like to begin with the Overview section of the site. Here, a short introductory video lays the groundwork for growing great teachers. Moving on, the article "Why Is Teacher Development Important?: Because Students Deserve the Best" (which can be located under the Importance tab) provides an introduction to the tools, mentorship models, and experiences that help prepare teachers for the classroom. The Research tab is another great addition to the site and delivers a review of research with generous links to other articles, both on and off the Edutopia site. A number of Teacher Development Videos, which can be viewed free of charge, and a discussion board round out the site. [CNH]


Crossword Puzzle Maker

·http://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/crossword/

Crossword puzzles can be a fun and effective way to teach vocabulary and other information to students of all ages. This site, from The Teachers Corner, makes creating a crossword puzzle quick and hassle-free. Simply enter words and clues into the available columns. Meanwhile, a spell check feature will automatically provide feedback. Then, once the words and clues are entered, users may choose whether or not to Show the Word Bank (or let students figure out the words freestyle), before selecting Make Crossword Puzzle for their finished product. From there, puzzle makers can print, add images, and create a PDF, among other options. [CNH]


PBS Learning Media: Gratitude and the Environment

·http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/transt.pd.lpgratitude/gratitude-and-the-environment/

This site from PBS outlines a lesson plan (intended for grade levels 5-8) concerning gratitude for the earth's diverse ecologies. The page offers a two paragraph Lesson Summary, information about Time Allotment, and several Learning Objectives, including understanding the dual nature of gratitude (appreciation and reciprocity), understanding the positive and negative interactions between humans and the environment, recognizing how gratitude can fuel actions, and recognizing the benefits of diverse perspectives. There are also links to a number of media resources, as well as the nine-step lesson plan itself, which spans two class periods and moves back and forth between lecture, media presentations, and discussion. [CNH]


Immigrant Heritage Month

·http://welcome.us/

June is Immigrant Heritage Month, and this site is alive with stories of America's diverse citizenry. Readers may view uploaded videos, tweets and retweets, photographs, inspiring quotes, and, above all, the many, many stories of those who have come to America looking for a better life. Some of the stories, such as a Vietnamese man's first encounter with snow, are humorous; others, such as children of immigrants recalling their parents sacrifices, are touching. Overall, the site has an almost overwhelming ability to convey the complexity and depth of the American immigrant experience, in many of its varied forms. Educators may find the site useful during lesson plans on immigration and the diversity of the United States, while other readers may just enjoy the wealth of narrative available here. [CNH]


Physics Central: Physics in Action

·http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/action/index.cfm

Physics in Action, which is sponsored by the American Physical Society, takes readers into dozens of different physics topics, often from unexpected and interesting angles. On the site, the whirling skirts worn by Moslem ascetics serve as fodder for an explanation of the Coriolis Effect; a water slide becomes the example in an article on atomic friction; and the history of batteries may just tell us the energy storage possibilities of the future. The site can be searched by nine different topics, including Chaos, Force & Motion, and Material Science (among others). The entire backlog of articles is also fully accessible under the Archives tab. [CNH]


Free Code Camp

·http://www.freecodecamp.com/

Completing Free Code Camp is no easy task. In fact, students log over 1,600 coding hours by the time they complete all the classes, tasks, and projects that the site employs. The upswing, however, can be significant, as the site promises that committed users will: learn full stack JavaScript; build a portfolio of real apps that real people are using; and, hopefully, get a coding job. Users begin by taking 200 hours of online lessons. Next, they log 200 hours of JavaScript Algorithm practice, then work on 200 hours of front end web development, followed by 200 hours of full stack web development practice. Camp is then rounded out by 800 hours of real-world web development work for participating non-profits. Along the way, users connect with other "campers," and learn applicable skills. An email address or social media account (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is needed to create an account, but the site is well-organized, user-friendly, and, best of all, free. [CNH]


General Interest

Book Riot

·http://bookriot.com/

Perhaps one of the defining features of Book Riot, the online book review site, is its indifference to the distinctions between "highbrow" and "lowbrow." Here book lovers will find intricate perlustrations of 19th century French dramatists next to peppy lineups of the best summer beach reads. Genres covered include Children's, Classics, Feminism, Poetry, and over a dozen others. With more than 20 unique columns, readers can browse musings on the week's most exciting books (Fresh Ink), view thematic selections from select authors (Reading Pathways), or even participate in The Ultimate Book Trivia Challenge (Quizzes). The site even offers its own weekly podcast, with a backlog of over 100 episodes at the time of this writing. In addition to all of those enticements, the site donates two percent of its revenue to literacy-related nonprofits. [CNH]


Old NYC

·http://www.oldnyc.org/

The New York Public Library's Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy boasts a collection of over 80,000 original photographs of New York taken between the 1870s and 1970. This site gathers many of those images together into a dynamic online map outfitted with red dots. Readers may zoom in, zoom out, and click on the dots to find photographs drawn from particular geographical locations, thereby witnessing the changing landscapes of New York City over a period of nearly a hundred years. For instance, clicking on the dot that corresponds to East 42nd Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan calls up over a dozen images from a number of decades, including a 1920 shot of the 3rd Avenue elevated train, which was eventually closed in the 1950s. Any photograph of interest can be explored in grater detail in the NYPL Digital Collections. [CNH]


The Visible Human Project

·http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html

The Visible Human Project is one of the groundbreaking initiatives that makes the National Library of Medicine so fascinating. Using donated cadavers, the Project has created "complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional representations" of male and female bodies, sectioned at one millimeter (male) and one-third millimeter (female) intervals. On the site, readers can find an extremely helpful FactSheet, link to several articles about the initiative, and view a number of revealing images and animations from the project. (Note: the animations require RealPlayer for Windows or QuickTime for Mac users.) There are also links to proceedings from several Visible Human Project Conferences, where readers may view overviews of presentations and view related images and movies. [CNH]


Our unhealthy obsession with choice

·http://www.ted.com/talks/renata_salecl_our_unhealthy_obsession_with_choice

The idea of choice has been elevated to an ideal of nearly religious dimensions in the United States and other Western democracies. But is there a dark side to the ideology of choice? Renata Salecl, the Slovenian philosopher and social critic, thinks there is. In this talk, Salecl draws from fields as diverse as sociology and psychoanalysis to problematize the unexamined promotion of choice. In fact, in the course of 15 minutes, she argues that our choices are seldom rational; in fact, an overabundance of choice is anxiety provoking, and, perhaps most provocatively, the ideology of choice actually blocks us from becoming productive and powerful agents within democratic societies. Whether or not one agrees with the critique, the talk certainly makes one think about the intricacies of choice. [CNH]


Every Culture: Multicultural America

·http://www.everyculture.com/multi/

The Acadians, French-speaking settlers more commonly known as "Cajuns," first took up residence in what is now Eastern Canada's Maritime provinces, part of Quebec, and present-day Maine in the 17th century, only to be driven down the coastline to Louisiana by the British. Readers may find a long article about the "Acadians" under "A-Br" in the Multicultural America section of EveryCulture.com. Laid out in alphabetical order, the site also offers detailed information about Apaches, Hmong Americans, Slovenian Americans, and many other groups. The articles are well-written, offer rich information on a range of cultural practices and histories, and usually culminate in a number of resources for further inquiry, such as lists of newsletters, magazines, newspapers, and websites. [CNH]


The National Archives: Beginners' Latin

·http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners/

For anyone interested in reading official documents written in England between the years 1086 and 1733, knowing Latin is often a necessity. And not just any form of the language, but the particular version of Latin used in those documents, which differs from classical Latin in significant ways. Thankfully, the National Archives of the United Kingdom has launched a practical online tutorial for beginners in this uniquely British dialect of the ancient tongue. On the site, readers may link to explanations of the language and read about classical Latin. They may also, of course, engage in the free Tutorial, which starts with a lesson on verbs and ends, eleven sessions later, with a 5-stage lesson on adverbs, numbers and dates, months, useful phrases, and dating clauses. Each lesson includes practice sentences and at least one activity. Best of all, once readers finish with Beginners' Latin, they can move on to the equally exceptional Advanced Latin, also on the National Archives page. [CNH]


This Land Is Your Land: Parks and Public Spaces

·http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/this-land

One of the ways that the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) showcases its growing collections - DPLA hit ten million items in April 2015 - is through exhibitions. This Land Is Your Land presents materials from several DPLA contributors, including Clemson University Special Collections, Yellowstone National Park, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The images are organized into 6 themes: Building the Parks, Interpretation of Parks, Landscapes, Protecting the Parks, Stewards of the Parks, and Wildlife and People. Several of the themes include sub-themes; for example, first select Stewards of the Parks to access the landing page for this fascinating sub-collection. From there, use the "Next" button to move on to The Stewards of History at Andersonville National Historic Site sub-theme for individual and group shots of rangers at Andersonville National Historic Site, a park that is located on the grounds of Camp Sumter, a Civil War prison camp. Visit the From Superintendents to Assistants sub-theme for a few photos of some of the other staff in National Parks who are not park rangers, such as superintendents and their secretaries. [DS]


Network Tools

UMapper

·http://www.umapper.com/

UMapper makes life easy for anyone who would like to create, manage, distribute, and even monetize their own custom maps. Umapper Basic, which includes the creation of unlimited public and private maps (but doesn't cover commercial applications) is free. Sign up requires nothing more than an email address. From there, users can create and distribute interactive maps and track their usage. The service is ideal for educators looking to spice up their lesson plans, bloggers of all kinds, and a wide range of readers with unique roles and interests. For inspiration, there are plenty of maps to peruse under the Explore tab on the site. [CNH]


HabitRPG

·https://habitrpg.com/static/front

If you need a little extra accountability and want to have some fun while you're at it, HabitRPG, an online tool that turns your to-do list into a video game, might be just the thing. With HabitRPG anyone can "gamify" their daily and weekly tasks - whether work, school, or wellness related. Along the way, users may compete with friends and join interest groups. This community then reinforces good behaviors and discourages laxity by giving your avatar prizes for crossing off items on the to-do list or subtracting "health" as a consequence for weak moments. Getting started is easy, simply register for an account using either Facebook or an email address. Then create and customize an avatar, add tasks, and let the games begin. [CNH]


In the News

Gmail Introduces New 'Undo Send' Feature

An end to email shame? Gmail's 'Undo Send' comes to the masses
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/24/gmail-undo-send-email-google

Gmail adds an 'undo Send' email tool for its users
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/33256814/gmail-adds-an-undo-send-email-tool-for-its-users

Gmail's 'Undo Send' Option Officially Rolls Out
http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2015/06/23/gmail-undo-send/

Gmail Officially Adds Undo Send, Turn It On Right Now
http://gizmodo.com/gmail-officially-adds-undo-send-turn-it-on-right-now-1713353235

Google Gives Gmail Users the Ability to 'Undo Send'
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/06/23/google-gives-gmail-users-the-ability-to-undo-send/

How to Unsend Emails in Gmail
http://www.wired.com/2015/06/gmail-undo-send/

It seems that everyone has, at some point, sent an email that they immediately regretted. Whether it was "replying all" when the information was meant for just one person, or writing something harsh and then thinking better of it, who hasn't wished they could reach into their computer and take back their words? Well, now Gmail is giving its users that chance - sort of. Google unveiled its new "Undo Send" function this week that, in fact, offers email correspondents a precious, if short, window after sending an email to cancel and rewrite. How does it work? Users need only turn on the function in their settings, choosing a "cancellation period" of five, 10, 20, or 30 seconds. Then each time an email is sent, an unobtrusive pop-up appears offering the option to "undo." Clicking on the icon reverts to the original email, where the author may tinker at will. [CNH]

The first three links, from the Guardian, BBC, and Forbes, offer coverage of Gmail's roll out of the 'undo send' feature, which has been available through its Labs section for six years, but only became a standard feature this week. Next on the docket, Gizmodo's Matt Novak offers some advice about the feature: "Turn it on." In addition, an article from the Wall Street Journal's tech blog features a handy screenshot of what to look for in the Gmail settings when scrolling for the new feature, and Megan Logan, writing for Wired, offers some simple, step-by-step instructions for how to turn on the feature.





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